"O earth, what changes hast thou seen.. there where the long street roars, hath been the stillness of the central sea. The hills are shadows, and they flow from form to form, and nothing stands; Like clouds they shape themselves and go."

Lord Alfred Tennyson's poem opens up the aqueous-themed album by Devin Townsend, appropriately titled Ocean Machine: Biomech. The 1997 album consists of thirteen buoyant tracks and avoids many of the pitfalls that plague so many albums in the genre of progressive metal. Rather than saturating the album with overzealous instrumental passages and bombastic vocals, Devin quite humbly allows the different sonic layers to complement one another, yielding an album that drifts along a strong current of transparent inventiveness. The concept elaborates on the malaise of life from an introspective viewpoint and the struggle to find harmony within the macrocosm. There is a sense of displacement conveyed, the uneasiness of being away from home and the pertinent loneliness. The lyrics aren't the most profound or intricately poetic, but they fit within the expressiveness of the music.

Comments

Fabulous album, and probably my favourite from Devin Townsend overall. Production is beautiful, songwriting is both catchy and complex, and devin's vocals on here range from soothing to downright mental. Brilliant.

How can you tell that we are living bad times in the history of music, any kind of music? When crap corporate music gets released and sell in millions while innovative, creative and non-commercial music is being cast aside by greedy record labels. Most of Devin Townsend's fans seem to be in agreement that this album is his best and for good reason, although it is not by a wide margin. In his brilliant 25 years of playing music he wrote many good albums. It just happens that this one leaves the most lasting impression and it is almost flawless. Devin Townsend's discography is not the hipster type, with one album gathering all the hype and appreciation, all the public votes while the others are left far behind. When I listened the first time to this album I felt like I rediscovered music once again. Sort of like being born again, however pathetic that sounds. Like I never listened to music prior to listening this record. There are some really light numbers here that pleasures the ears instantly such as "Regulator", "Seventh Wave" or "Life". More complex tracks such as "Bastard" (DT's best song even composed -hands down-), "The Death of Music" or "Voices In The Fan". The only tracks that seem out of place (although they are not bad numbers) are "Night" and the bonus track. "Night" is a great track actually, but it would've fit more on the next album rather than this one. Folks, drop the traditional progressive metal bands you knew. If you want real, innovative prog music, grab some of DT's solo projects and his SYL albums.

Great tracks: All except Night and the bonus tracks which are good but not great.